“Stop, I pray you!” cried Theolette, turning pale as the new-fallen snow. “O hasten, good soldiers, and bring yon singer here before me!”
And now a group of guards rushed through the swinging doors to do her bidding. Presently they returned, bringing with them the student who had saved Theolette from the robbers! He was very pale, there were irons on his wrists, and two burly turnkeys, dressed in red and black, stood beside him. And, beholding Theolette, the poor youth drew in his breath with a start and met her gaze with strange eyes.
“Speak! What does this mean? Who is this fellow?” cried the King, rising from his throne.
“May it please Your Majesty,” replied a turnkey, falling on one knee, “this youth is a student of the College of Dreams who disobeyed the edict of sleep and ran away from the city. He was captured as he tried to return after the spring awakening, brought before the Court of Dreams, and sentenced to pay the penalty. We were on our way with him to the dungeons under the river when the royal guards surrounded us and led us here. What is your will, O King?”
“My will is that the judgment be obeyed,” replied the King. “Lead him forth to his doom!”
“Nay, hear me, father,” cried Theolette. “If he is guilty, so am I! I, too, disobeyed the edict; I, too, ran away. This is the brave youth who so gallantly preserved me from the robbers! Oh, will you not believe me now? It is not a dream—it never was a dream!”
At these words, a stir of excitement swept through the vast hall; indeed, it seemed as if all there were trying to talk, to protest, to support, to dispute, to explain. The uproar was at its height when the boom of a cannon first quieted, then roused the hubbub to an even greater pitch.
“A royal visitor!” exclaimed the King. “What can this mean? Let no one stir!”
Presently, there was a fanfare of many trumpets, the great portals of the hall swung open, and there entered a crowned King and his train.
“O King of the City of the Winter Sleep,” cried the newcomer, “hear me, for I have come from afar and in great haste. I am the King of the North and I seek my only son, Prince Florimond, who was stolen from his cradle twenty years ago. The Fairy of the Isles has revealed that I shall find him here. He dwells in a house by the city wall and is a student of the College of Dreams. I pray you search for him at once, for my heart hungers to behold him!”